NAME
Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable - extended simple IRC bot for pluggable modules
SYNOPSIS
Creating the bot module
# with all defaults.
my $bot = Bot::BasicBot->new();
# with useful options. pass any option
# that's valid for Bot::BasicBot.
my $bot = Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable->new(
channels => ["#bottest"],
server => "irc.example.com",
port => "6667",
nick => "pluggabot",
altnicks => ["pbot", "pluggable"],
username => "bot",
name => "Yet Another Pluggable Bot",
ignore_list => [qw(hitherto blech muttley)],
);
Running the bot (simple)
There's a shell script installed to run the bot.
$ bot-basicbot-pluggable --nick MyBot --server irc.perl.org
Then connect to the IRC server, /query the bot, and set a password. See
Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable::Module::Auth for further details.
Running the bot (advanced)
There are two useful ways to create a Pluggable bot. The simple way is:
# Load some useful modules.
my $infobot_module = $bot->load("Infobot");
my $google_module = $bot->load("Google");
my $seen_module = $bot->load("Seen");
# Set the Google key (see http://www.google.com/apis/).
$google_module->set("google_key", "some google key");
$bot->run();
The above lets you run a bot with a few modules, but not change those
modules during the run of the bot. The complex, but more flexible, way
is as follows:
# Load the Loader module.
$bot->load('Loader');
# run the bot.
$bot->run();
This is simpler but needs further setup once the bot is joined to a
server. The Loader module lets you talk to the bot in-channel and tell
it to load and unload other modules. The first one you'll want to load
is the 'Auth' module, so that other people can't load and unload modules
without permission. Then you'll need to log in as an admin and change
the default password, per the following /query:
!load Auth
!auth admin julia
!password julia new_password
!auth admin new_password
Once you've done this, your bot is safe from other IRC users, and you
can tell it to load and unload other installed modules at any time.
Further information on module loading is in
Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable::Module::Loader.
!load Seen
!load Google
!load Join
The Join module lets you tell the bot to join and leave channels:
, join #mychannel
, leave #someotherchannel
The perldoc pages for the various modules will list other commands.
DESCRIPTION
Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable started as Yet Another Infobot replacement, but
now is a generalised framework for writing infobot-type bots that lets
you keep each specific function seperate. You can have seperate modules
for factoid tracking, 'seen' status, karma, googling, etc. Included
default modules are below. Use "perldoc
Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable::Module:: for help on their
individual terminology.
Auth - user authentication and admin access.
DNS - host lookup (e.g. nslookup and dns).
Google - search Google for things.
Infobot - handles infobot-style factoids.
Join - joins and leaves channels.
Karma - tracks the popularity of things.
Loader - loads and unloads modules as bot commands.
Seen - tells you when people were last seen.
Title - gets the title of URLs mentioned in channel.
Vars - changes module variables.
The way the Pluggable bot works is very simple. You create a new bot
object and tell it to load various modules (or, alternatively, load just
the Loader module and then interactively load modules via an IRC
/query). The modules receive events when the bot sees things happen and
can, in turn, respond. See "perldoc Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable::Module"
for the details of the module API.
METHODS
new(key => value, ...)
Create a new Bot. Except of the additional attributes loglevel and
logconfig identical to the "new" method in Bot::BasicBot. Please
refer to their accessor for documentation.
load($module)
Load a module for the bot by name from "./ModuleName.pm" or
"./modules/ModuleName.pm" in that order if one of these files exist,
and falling back to "Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable::Module::$module" if
not.
reload($module)
Reload the module $module - equivalent to unloading it (if it's
already loaded) and reloading it. Will stomp the old module's
namespace - warnings are expected here. Not toally clean - if you're
experiencing odd bugs, restart the bot if possible. Works for minor
bug fixes, etc.
unload($module)
Removes a module from the bot. It won't get events any more.
module($module)
Returns the handler object for the loaded module $module. Used,
e.g., to get the 'Auth' hander to check if a given user is
authenticated.
modules
Returns a list of the names of all loaded modules as an array.
available_modules
Returns a list of all available modules whether loaded or not
add_handler($handler_object, $handler_name)
Adds a handler object with the given name to the queue of modules.
There is no order specified internally, so adding a module earlier
does not guarantee it'll get called first. Names must be unique.
remove_handler($handler_name)
Remove a handler with the given name.
store
Returns the bot's object store; see Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable::Store.
log Logs all of its argument to loglevel info. Please do not use this
function in new code, it's simple provided as fallback for old
modules.
loglevel
Returns the bots loglevel or sets it if an argument is supplied. It
expects trace, debug, info, warn, error or fatal as value.
logconfig
Returns the bot configuration file for logging. Please refer to
Log::Log4perl::Config for the configurations files format. Setting
this to a differant file after calling init() has no effect.
Returns or set
dispatch($method_name, $method_params)
Call the named $method on every loaded module with that method name.
help
Returns help for the ModuleName of message 'help ModuleName'. If no
message has been passed, return a list of all possible handlers to
return help for.
run Runs the bot. POE core gets control at this point; you're unlikely
to get it back.
BUGS
During the "make", "make test", "make install" process, POE will moan
about its kernel not being run. This is a "Bot::BasicBot problem",
apparently. Reloading a module causes warnings as the old module gets
its namespace stomped. Not a lot you can do about that. All modules must
be in Bot::Pluggable::Module:: namespace. Well, that's not really a bug.
REQUIREMENTS
Bot::BasicBot::Pluggable is based on POE, and really needs the latest
version. Because POE is like that sometimes. You also need
POE::Component::IRC. Oh, and Bot::BasicBot. Some of the modules will
need more modules, e.g. Google.pm needs Net::Google. See the module docs
for more details.
LICENSE
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
AUTHOR
Mike Eldridge
I am merely the current maintainer; however, the AUTHOR heading is
traditional.
CONTRIBUTORS
* Mario Domgoergen
* Tom Insam
CREDITS
Bot::BasicBot was written initially by Mark Fowler, and worked on
heavily by Simon Kent, who was kind enough to apply some patches we
needed for Pluggable. Eventually. Oh, yeah, and I stole huge chunks of
docs from the Bot::BasicBot source too. I spent a lot of time in the
mozbot code, and that has influenced my ideas for Pluggable. Mostly to
get round its awfulness.
Various people helped with modules. Convert was almost ported from the
infobot code by blech. But not quite. Thanks for trying... blech has
also put a lot of effort into the chump.cgi & chump.tem files in the
examples/ folder, including some /inspired/ calendar evilness.
And thanks to the rest of #2lmc who were my unwilling guinea pigs during
development. And who kept suggesting totally stupid ideas for modules
that I then felt compelled to go implement. Shout.pm owes its existence
to #2lmc.
SEE ALSO
* POE
* POE::Component::IRC
* Bot::BasicBot
* Infobot: http://www.infobot.org/
* Mozbot: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/mozbot/